Future PBP DM seeks advice - Your input wanted!


Play-by-Post Discussion


Greetings all,

I realize that August is still a good way off, but I'm starting to get my thoughts together now for a pbp I'd like to run using the PFRPG rules. I might do Crypt of the Everflame, or I might dive into Council of Thieves. But, that's a decision to be made later. For now, as a rookie PBP DM, I am wondering if there are any pearls of wisdom to be shared by other DMs who have successfully sustained games over the long haul. What works well, what doesn't? I know that a lot of these games fizzle out, but why? Specific questions I have include:

1. What's the best way to select players for the game? First come, first served? Random draw? 'Judging' the applicants in some manner?

2. How do you maintain player interest to keep them posting regularly? How do you prevent DM burnout?

3. How do you handle die rolling? All DM all the time, or players take responsibility for their own? How do you prevent cheating?

4. How do you handle combat? Are combat maps a necessity? If so, what's the best way to make them?

I appreciate any and all feedback you may have on these or other topics. Thanks for your time!

-Alan

Liberty's Edge

Well, I can help with a few of these.

1: Normally you are looking at a first come first serve sort of thing, though when you are running a more popular AP or the like(I'm sure anything with PFRPG will fall into this category) you will have enough people interested that you can go with picking and choosing. Having players submit a background is probably the best way to do this.

2: This is one of the hardest things to do in a pbp, because there always will be real life interruptions that may make players drop the game, or just put a lull in things. Its important for the DM to be on regularly enough that he can keep up with his players, and don't be afraid to make a roll or briefly NPC someone if they disappear so that you don't lose other players.

3: I've found that even in an electronic setting, players like to be able to roll their own dice rather then the DM doing it for them. Sometimes you can get away with the honor system and have it work well(I'm in a game at the moment that does that and its been very smooth), but I have also seen a few players where cheating could be an issue. If you are worried about that, I would suggest Invisible Castle or DMTools. Either of these will let you roll various numbers and types of dice with different modifiers on them and post the results. On invisible castle, you can also call up specific players roll history and create a 'campaign' so that any rolls that have that name applied to them show up together. Invisible castle can be a fickle creature however and is known to be hated by luck.

4: Combat maps aren't quite as much of a necessity in a PbP so long as you are descriptive, since if a player forgets their posistioning they can look to the posts above to be reminded of it. However, it is still a very helpful thing and can add a lot visually. There are a few ways to handle it really, one option(for those more talented then I am) is to have a map of your battle are as an image file and host it somewhere like flickr where it is accessible to your players. You can mark it with players positions and adjust and re-save it to the site as needed.

For the less artistically inclined or those of us without enough time to keep that up, you can also use something like google docs. Thats a great tool to share various types of office documents online that can be edited real-time by the group. I tend to use them to allow players to keep and share notes between them, and also use a spreadsheet as a battlemat, just noting where the different things are, and bordering in cells that make up the walls of the rooms(or even giving different background colors for water, rough terrain, ect). It seems to work out very well.

I know a lot of people also use things like maptools, but I'm afraid I don't have much experience with them, so they will have to speak for those themselves.

Hope some of that helps,

-Tarlane.

Liberty's Edge

Manwolf Werewoof testing upper middle class twit 5

You can also check the sticky in this section; it's chock full of goodness.


Human

All the above is very sound advice and there is a good stickied thread at the top of this forum which is packed with great ideas.

My own two cents to add to the mix for preventing DM burnout is this:-

Run something you love a lot. It helps keep you focused and your own enthusiasm will spill over to the players. It helps to be very hands on I think and don't be afraid to move things along. PBP is a wonderful medium in some ways, but situations that need a decision can take ages if you don't force it. Don't be afraid to do that or to warn players that you will NPC them if they're not around and things need to go forward.

You can ask for a set of pre-rolled inits as well, which helps to get combat going.


Thanks to those who have taken the time to share some pointers. And, thanks also for pointing me toward the stickied thread, which was quite helpful. Much appreciated!


DO NOT STICK FINGERS IN CAGE

If you don't want to do preset inits, I find making the first poster roll a D20 and using that as a group init base roll makes things run a lot quicker. The game can move glacially waiting on everyone to roll their dice. Also, although I find it annoying to do, you really have to step up and DMPC a player who has gone AWOL. Otherwise the whole game will start to crumble.

When doing up battles, try and keep the action quick and punchy. An eight-round fight can stretch over a month in real time. It can get tiring..


Male Efreeti, advanced manthing 45HD

1. What's the best way to select players for the game? First come, first served? Random draw? 'Judging' the applicants in some manner?

I just do first come as its like a box of chocolate Forrest. Really is; players have real life events and drop out; new ones come; that is the beast of it; it just is; it like a job interview; sure the guys seems great and is interested; does some work; but then doesnt show up a month from now and never says why. It really is a crap shoot; seems like after a few months; you get a group who likes your style and their life schedule fits yours and things start running smoothly; expect some bumps in first couple months though expecially in this economy.

2. How do you maintain player interest to keep them posting regularly? How do you prevent DM burnout?
well, my game is over a thousand posts and fairly long running I guess, I dont get burnout as a DM so cant help you there; as for posting regular; I suggest posting regularly yourself; things like maps; and naratives about weather; scene; feeling; and the like to help the players follow the story and get immersed in the scene.

3. How do you handle die rolling? All DM all the time, or players take responsibility for their own? How do you prevent cheating? i dont care about cheating, I let the players roll any way they want. most seem to use a dice rolly program; take a look at any of my game threads; character creation on my new Valgrymr's homebrew two has several. But really; you cannot control this so why try; people can just roll until they get the number they want anyway then post it. As gm; I am more concerned about the story and I think most players are also; failure can make for a good part of a story where they have to be heroic to overcome. As GM; you can send as many tough things as you want to have a story turn out; so why get excited about it. My biggest problem is that all pc's think they are invulnerable and rarely learn the "better part of Valor" PC never seem to learn to run away or choose their threats yet can complain a lot about running out of spell power and such; hehe gives me evil dm chuckles; sigh; pc vanity.

4. How do you handle combat? Are combat maps a necessity? If so, what's the best way to make them?
I think scenes need maps; I just draw them in paint and email them to my players; one need gm for a game i am in; puts them on graph paper with letters across and numbers down so you can say what squares your moving through; but I dont use it myself as a choice as no player is out measuring and I like twisty caverns and such. I just post distance charts on my maps; there are several games in my original Valgrymr's Homebrew if you want to look at them; look in the latest 10 or so pages.
I appreciate any and all feedback you may have on these or other topics. Thanks for your time!

-Alan

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